Hey guys,
First of all, here’s my info:
Age - 17 years old.
Height - About 5ft 11in.
Waist - Last measurement was 87.6 cm, or 34.5 in.
Weight - About 165lbs.
Body and Facial Hair - I’m a pretty hairy kid, it runs in the family and I’ve had heavy hair (compared to a lot of other guys my age)since puberty. I also have a decent amount of facial hair and it grows pretty fast. I shave every day, if I don’t things start to get messy after day two.
Fat Storage - I was a fat kid. Over the past two years, I’ve dropped from around 225 to my current weight/ body fat levels. I can’t compare how I store fat now to how in did in the past because my body is so much different. I will say that I store fat more around the moobs, butt, and love handles. It’s odd, because despite the fact that you can see the outline of my abs and ribs, I still look fat because the love handles refuse to budge.
Health History - I haven’t had many major health issues. I thought I had depression for a while. I took medication for it (20mg of Citalopram), but it never seemed to do much at all. In hindsight, I don’t think I had depression, although I did have many symptoms associated with it.
Symptoms:
Mood - I’ve been getting increasingly irritable lately. It seems I’m always up or down, and it’s difficult for me to be consistent.
Energy - It’s been low for as long as I can remember. I’ve never been a very energetic guy, despite trying my best to eat clean foods and get plenty of sleep. Issues with energy combined with my mood problems are what let me to believe I had depression.
Sleep - I used to have pretty bad insomnia. It’s disappeared over the past few years, but the fatigue and constant tiredness has not. Even though I get at least eight hours almost every night, I never seem to feel well rested.
Focus - Focus has never been good either. Not sure if poor focus can be linked to low testosterone, but I figured I’d throw it in.
Libido - Right now, it’s essentially nonexistent. I don’t have ED, but it’s been months since I’ve gotten an erection without trying. I never get morning wood, or anything like that. I can admire a beautiful girl and feel attracted, but nothing more than that. This is a dramatic change that’s only really happened over the last year-6 months.
Fat/Muscle/Gym issues - Like I said above, despite being lean enough to see the outline of my abs, ribs, etc. I still have large fat deposits on my love handles, buttocks, and pectorals that won’t budge no matter what I do. I’ve also always felt as though my progress in the gym has been mediocre compared to others, however I always attributed that to internal factors, (not working hard enough, not doing things right, etc), and it’s hard to quantify this.
Temperature - I do tend to get cold easily, but I figured this was just a side effect of losing the fat.
Testes Ache - Happens once and a while, but not major and doesn’t last more than 10-15 mins.
Diet - I recently sustained an injury about a month ago that’s impaired me from training. I don’t know how long it’s going to take to heal. For the past month or two, I’ve been eating at a slight surplus. Before the injury, I thought maybe that bulking would help my skinny-fat issue. After the injury, I still decided to eat at a surplus as to not impair healing. Because I’m not training, I’ve cut the carbs down to 30-100g a day.
I’ve also been meeting my protein requirements, and filling the rest with fats. I try to eat some greens at every meal (usually in the form of salad). I’m currently doing a 16/8 intermittent fasting, as it helps me control the urges of my inner fatass. I take a multivitamin, vitamin D, and fish oil. It’s also important to note here that since I’ve stopped training, I’ve actually lost a few pounds, but added noticeble belly fat.
Training - Like I said above, I’m injured, so training isn’t what’s causing the issues.
Lab Results - Total Test: - January 2013: 245ng/Dl, normal range: 165-750ng/Dl
- September 2012: 275ng/Dl, normal range: 165-750ng/Dl
That’s all I have for lab results. I realize that those numbers are probably incredibly unhelpful, but that’s all they gave me when I asked for a testosterone test. After reading some threads in here, if I can even get another lab test, I’ll be sure to get more comprehensive numbers soon.
So, that’s essentially my situation. I went to the doc twice, (after showing no improvement with the depression medication) with sneaking suspicions that my testosterone was low. As you can see, according to his books, I was normal both times so he told me not to worry about it. He also said that it wasn’t a big deal even if I was a little on the low side. I took his word for it, but after rediscovering the lab results in my drawer, it’s caused me to do a little more research. After reading this forum and others, I’m not sure I’m convinced.
I want to set up another appointment, but my problem is that the doc doesn’t really seem to be concerned, and I’m afraid he’s not going to give the issue an honest look. Even if he does, It seems as though he wouldn’t know how to treat it. Because I’m under 18, I’d need my parents’ so sign off on another doc for health insurance purposes.
The problem is, unless the current doctor says I have an issue, my parents probably won’t believe me if I tell them I have low testosterone. They already believe I put too much work and effort into trying to be healthy, and they were skeptical when I went to them with suspicions of depression.
So, I guess the only thing to do is try and get a more comprehensive blood test from the doctor and hope that it reveals what my issue is. Any advice or insight you guys could give me would be greatly appreciated.
Sorry if it was long-winded, thanks for reading.